The Adventures of Percy in Avatar: The Last Airbender
by bluelizard91
Summary: Percival Connors, or just Percy, is an ordinary graphic designer/mixed martial arts champion taking care of his kid siblings. One day, without any warning, Percy finds himself hurled into the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Upon meeting the Avatar, Percy helps prepare for the outcome of the Hundred Year War, whatever it may be. Rated T 'cause I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N 11/29/2013: I know, I know...I shouldn't be starting another story until after I finish at least one of the stories that I already have going. But I'm having a sudden new-old obsession with Avatar: The Last Airbender and I had to write down something about it, just to get it out of my head. At least that was the idea, until it took on a life of its own and became more than a random scene with the Gaang…**

**Oh, and this story centers around a person from our world getting sent to the ATLA world, so if you think stories like that are annoying, then don't read! Also, I have no idea how or why something like this would happen, so for the moment I won't even bother trying to explain it.**

**That being said, enjoy! Maybe...**

Chapter 1

"Percy, wake up!"

I wasn't sure which woke me up first, the excited shouting or something landing squarely on top of me. Being awakened in such a sudden way, I reacted on reflex, drawing on my twelve years worth of martial arts training.

WHACK!

I lashed out in self defense at the thing on top of me. In my sleep-disoriented state it probably wasn't perfect, but my elbow strike made contact squarely with the thing's face. Naturally, I was assaulted with a flood of guilt when I realized that I had just struck my mute younger brother.

"Oh my gosh! Aidan, are you alright?! I wasn't trying to hit you on purpose, honest!" I quickly sat up and hugged the younger boy, all traces of sleep forgotten as I mentally berated myself for what I had just done. My brother's eyes had tears in them from the pain of the sudden blow, and his right cheek was turning red from where I had elbowed him. Aidan, bless his heart, didn't take it personally. After blinking away the tears, he smiled at me and reached his arms around my neck to hug me, trying to tell me that he was all right.

"I'm sorry, Percy. I shouldn't have yelled like that."

This came from my younger sister Nadia, who was standing beside my bed and casting very apologetic looks both at me and at Aidan. Like Aidan and myself, she was still wearing her pajamas. I reached out and ruffled her hair.

"It's okay...I should know better than to strike first like that," I assured.

Nadia seemed less worried when she heard this, but she got up on my bed and hugged me anyway. I held both of them close, still feeling guilty about what I had done. Aidan and Nadia were twelve years old - twins. Our parents had died in a drive-by shooting two years ago, and I was all the family that the twins had left. I was an adult living by myself when our parents were killed, so I made it a point to take care of the twins, instead of sending them to an orphanage or a stranger's house. My next door neighbor usually kept an eye on the twins while I was at work, but I was the one who really took care of them.

I shook my head to clear these thoughts away, and focused on the present.

"Nadia, what were you shouting about? Am I late for work?" I asked, a little apprehensively.

She shook her head, a smile crossing her face.

"No, it's the weekend. You promised you would get up early and watch ATLA with us, remember?"

"At-lah?" I repeated rather blankly, not understanding.

"Yeah. The first episode of Season 2 is airing today." Nadia pointed out with some impatience.

I snapped my fingers as I remembered. "Oh! That's right."

ATLA, or Avatar: The Last Airbender, was the twins' all time favorite cartoon. They had waited for it eagerly since the first TV promotions, and since I happened to be in the right place at the right time when the first episode aired, they had pulled me into the fandom as well.

"What time is it coming on?" I asked, referring to the Season 2 premiere. Nadia answered without hesitation.

"Eight o' clock."

I looked at the digital clock on my desk. 7:53 A.M.

"In that case, why don't you two go ahead? I'll get dressed and make breakfast."

"Okay!"

Nadia's enthusiast agreement was echoed by Aidan's grin, and the twins rushed out of my room like a whirlwind in their excitement. I was left behind, smiling at their energy. It did me a world of good to know that they could bounce back from our parents' deaths so well.

I got out of bed, and stretched and yawned for a moment, before walking over to my dresser. It was the work of half a minute to slip out of my flannel loungers and pull on a pair of blue jeans and a random tee shirt, which was brick red. When I was dressed, I picked up a comb and tackled what was the longest part of my morning routine: my hair. All three of us kids had gotten our father's golden yellow color, but while the twins had gotten Mom's grey eyes and fine silkiness, I had gotten Dad's brown eyes and a shaggy coarseness that was all my own. Taming my wild hair was time consuming to say the least, more so since my hair reached the middle of my back, and was incredibly thick like a lion's or horse's mane.

Normally I would have kept it cut short, but after years of training in mixed martial arts and winning my fifth national tournament, I started growing my hair out on purpose last year. In many ancient cultures, if a man had long hair it typically meant that he was such a skilled warrior he hardly needed to worry about someone grabbing it and trying to slit his throat or something. Since I had won five national tournaments, all in a row at that, I felt somewhat entitled to showing off my rank, as it were.

I ran the comb through my hair and tied it back in a low ponytail with the black shoelace I always used. I took a moment to put on my favorite necklace - a black cord with a red-gold tone circular pendant, featuring a cut-out pattern that showed a tiger's roaring face, its eyes aptly represented by polished tiger-eye gemstones. The cord of the necklace was quite long, but ever since I got it I made a habit of tying the cord very short, almost choker length, so it wouldn't swing around a lot and get knocked on things.

After putting on my necklace and taking another glance at the clock, which now read 7:58 AM, I turned to leave the room. I was just stepping into the hall when I paused. Something about my closet was different. I looked over my shoulder at the closet beside my dresser. The door was closed, but there was obviously a light shining from beneath the door. Thinking that I had left my closet light on all night, I moved swiftly to turn it off so it wouldn't waste anymore electricity. It wasn't until I opened the closet door that I realized it was something else entirely.

On the left hand side of the closet were the shelves, which I used mainly for storing random things and whatever clothing wasn't needed for the current season. On the right hand side was a wooden bar which held wooden hangers, which in turn held my few suits and whatever other clothing needed to stay unwrinkled. Between the shelves and the bar with the hangers, there was a full length mirror mounted on the back wall of the closet. Usually, there wouldn't have been anything weird about this setup, but I blinked in confusion and skepticism.

My mirror was...glowing. Literally, glowing. There was no other word for it. The glow was white and steady and seemed to come from inside the mirror, though I wasn't sure how that would have worked, logically speaking. I was even less sure of what to do...this wasn't exactly a crime scene, so calling the police would have been pointless. Maybe I was going insane? The deaths of one's parents could conceivably push one over the edge, but why would my parents dying make me think that my mirror was glowing? The mirror was already in this closet when I bought this house, my parents had nothing to do with it.

I turned away and blinked the light out of my eyes. I looked around for something to poke the mirror with, just to be sure it was real, and saw my pair of karate sai on the shelf at my elbow. I picked them up and gripped them firmly as if I was preparing for a fight, despite the fact that my 'opponent' was just a mirror. Granted, I could have just smashed the mirror and been done with it, but I was beginning to believe that it was all in my head...the mirror really wasn't glowing, so I wasn't about to smash a perfectly good mirror and make myself look like an idiot.

I cautiously stepped forward to the mirror, which still glowed with that same white light, and lightly tapped it with one sai just to see if anything would happen. Bad idea, or so I thought at the time.

The glow in the mirror flashed suddenly, blinding me and prompting me to pull back again. Instead, I felt myself being jerked forward, like someone had grabbed the sai I held out and was pulling me towards them. I realized that I was about to bash my head against my mirror nanoseconds before the impact. But, instead of smashing my mirror in a shower of glass like I was expecting, I fell headfirst into the mirror - literally, _into_ the mirror!

I was far too surprised to call for help. Looking back, I doubt anyone could have helped me. The only people who would have heard me would have been Aidan and Nadia, and there wasn't much they could have done beyond getting pulled into the mirror themselves. As things were, I was tumbling head over heels in the midst of a swirling vortex of white light. Occasionally I saw flashes of other colors, but it was mostly just white. There was no sound, just the whoosh of air rushing past from my speed and a distinctly uncomfortable feeling of motion sickness.

I had no idea which way was up or down, or even if there was such a thing in this place, whatever it was. It didn't help matters when the shoelace holding back my hair became undone and was swept away in an instant, leaving my hair to whip around my face and obscure my vision. The only solid thing in this place aside from myself seemed to be my two sai, still clutched in my hands. That didn't help matters either.

My hair was blown back from my face for a moment, and I saw a pinpoint of blackness rushing towards me, growing bigger every second that it came. I managed to orient myself as possibly being hurled upwards before the blackness engulfed me.

It must have been at this point that I fell unconscious, even though I didn't get hit very hard on the head. I can talk about this stuff pretty casually now, because going to other dimensions or whatever seems to have become a regular thing for me, but that first time I felt anything but casual about it.

Anyway, when I came to - how long I was unconscious is anyone's guess - I barely registered how cold it was before my reflexes kicked in. I jumped to my feet and took a fighting stance with my sai, ready to defend myself against whatever army or horrible creature might have been waiting for me. I felt a little stupid afterwards, because there was no army and no horrible creature in sight. There was only the ruins of a great stone castle or temple, and a white, cat sized, monkey-like animal with large, upright ears. At the sight of me, the little animal dashed up a sloping path with a startled chattering. I couldn't help staring at the monkey creature as it paused a short distance up the path and started scolding me in its chattering way.

"Momo?" I asked, completely dumbfounded. The monkey creature stopped scolding at the sound of my voice, but still regarded me warily. I met its gaze, just as wary of the little animal as it was of me. Back home, Momo was a flying lemur from the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, found and befriended by the titular last Airbender, Aang, not long after he woke up from a hundred years of suspended animation.

I glanced around at my surroundings, letting it sink in. I was standing on some sort of platform that had been carved out of a mountainside, maybe forty feet wide and fifty feet across. It was rather crumbly with age and occasional weeds peeked halfheartedly out of a blanket of snow. On one side, there was nothing but the edge of the platform jutting out over empty space and the sad moaning of the wind as it passed by. On the other side, there was a sloping path, similarly carved out of rock and leading upwards, towards an ancient Eastern styled temple that towered above me on some higher terrain. I knew this place to be the Southern Air Temple, Aang's old home, now destroyed and forgotten after a century of global war. The overcast sky promised more snow to come, and wintry fog hung in the air, lending a haunted feel to the scene. There was no sign of anything that looked like a path back home to my ordinary closet in my ordinary house.

Momo the flying lemur was still watching me curiously from the path. I looked back at Momo, and shook my head in amazement.

"Either I'm having a really convincing dream, or something has transported me to the ATLA world…" I muttered, not really believing a word of what I said. I stood where I was for a few moments, letting myself get used to the possibility of alternate dimensions being a real thing. I suddenly remembered the cold and shivered. The wind blew rather steadily, which made me feel even colder. This Air Temple was one of four, and like the others this one was built on top of a mountain, denoting the air-manipulation ability of the Air Nomads who used to inhabit it. It would have been cold on the mountain even with proper clothing, but it was awful in my jeans and tee shirt.

I shivered again, my teeth chattering, and stuck my two sai into separate belt loops of my jeans to free my hands. My bare feet flinched against the cold stony ground and blanket of snow, and I began rubbing my arms briskly in an effort to warm up a little. It didn't do much good. I moved towards the sloping path, intending to get inside the Temple and out of the wind at least. Momo the lemur saw me coming towards him, and he dashed ahead of me before stopping a little further up the path, casting a curious, wary look at me.

By the time I was halfway up the path, my feet were numb from the cold, and I was having a hard time feeling my ears and nose as well. My hands fared a little better, because I had crossed my arms over my chest and stuck my hands in my armpits, near the large arteries there. I moved on, shuffling through the snow and shivering every step of the way. There were a few other paths branching off of this one, but I paid them no mind. I just wanted to get out of the wind and snow and get warm again.

In a couple more minutes I found myself at the end of the path, standing before an outer archway that led to a small courtyard. I could see some sort of fountain and a statue further away, before another archway that led into the Temple itself. Momo had cautiously moved ahead of me on the path, all the way to the outer arch, which he was now perching on like a really cute gargoyle. He watched with that same wary, curious look, probably trying to decide if I was an enemy or not. I shivered again and spoke to Momo, even though I couldn't help feeling kind of stupid for talking to a cartoon animal.

"I'm not going to eat you, Momo...Do you think you could show me where I can find some decent clothing for the weather? In the clothes I have now, it's only a matter of time before I freeze to death…"

Momo gave a curious chitter, but he didn't move from his spot on the arch. I sighed somewhat exasperatedly, though it was more of a shiver than anything else.

"Hrmph, you're nothing at all like Lassie…" I muttered, trying not to shake from the cold and failing. "It was worth a shot, anyway."

I moved under the arch into the little courtyard. I skirted around the fountain, now coldly dry, and moved towards the inner archway leading into the Temple. Just before this inner archway was the statue, which appeared to be made of wood and depicted an elderly Air Nomad monk sitting on a pedestal, meditating. The elderly man had a wise face and a longish moustache; his head was bald, and he had the arrow tattoo on his head and hands that all Airbenders received when they had achieved mastery of their element.

I paused before the statue, studying it. This was Monk Gyatso, the master who had taught Aang everything he knew about Airbending. Aang probably thought of him as a second father. I remembered when I had watched this episode of ATLA back home on TV. Aang eventually finds Gyatso's remains, and loses his cool over everything and everyone he knew from before being dead and gone. Katara, a girl he had met in the Southern Water Tribe, was the only one who could calm him down.

Another bout of shivering reminded me that I didn't have time to stand around and think. I stepped aside to go around the statue, but something landed on my shoulder from behind, startling me. It was Momo, who finally felt brave enough to examine me up close. He sniffed at me carefully, going around from one shoulder, behind my head, to the other shoulder, before he was satisfied that I was friendly. I chuckled and stroked his head.

"Sorry, buddy. I don't have any food for you. You'll just have to find food on your own. Feel free to bring me some too, while you're at it."

Momo chittered in response, and lightly wrapped his long tail around my neck. He stayed on my shoulder, spreading his forearms around my head and lightly clutching my hair like a safety line. I chuckled again at how utterly adorable he was before moving inside the temple proper.

It was just as cold inside the Temple as it was outside. There were many large windows and doors in the temple, allowing the wind to pass through at will. I shivered again and began looking around for something to make a fire with, or a blanket to wrap up in. I took half a dozen steps before I stopped in my tracks; I forgot the cold as realization came crashing down on me like a tidal wave. This wasn't just a cartoon anymore, this was a world with actual people who lived and died, and the proof was right there in front of me.

There were at least a dozen human skeletons just inside the archway, slumped against the wall or sprawled on the floor where they had died, and lightly dusted by snow that had been blown in from the courtyard. Most of the skeletons were accompanied by scorched remains of brown, yellow, or orange cloth robes, and one was accompanied by rusting red-and-black metal armor. The robes had been the Air Nomads, struck down in what was nothing less than genocide in the name of one man's ambition. The red and black armor had been the Fire Nation, the country of fire-manipulators who had started the war in the first place, and this genocide had been their opening move.

I stood just inside the archway, just a step away from the Fire Nation skeleton and almost overwhelmed by the knowledge that these were not the only skeletons in the area. There would have been a couple hundred Air Nomads here, at least. The Temples were where the children were raised and trained by the monks and nuns, and everyone who wasn't a student or a monk/nun would travel the world like the nomads they were.

I shivered again, not from the cold, but from the fact that I was standing in what was essentially a mass grave. This Air Temple was the final resting place of living, breathing people who had been as real in their way as my younger siblings were to me. I began to hope that Aang and his friends would come soon and get me away from here, or that it wouldn't get too cold for me to sleep outside, if it came to that. If I ended up having to spend the night indoors, I would probably have nightmares about Fire Nation soldiers striking down and killing Aidan and Nadia alongside the Air Nomads.

The thought of nightmares featuring my younger siblings decided me. I would stay inside the temple only long enough to salvage whatever supplies I could. After that I was staying outside, no matter how cold it might get. I picked my way past the very real skeletons, trying to ignore the nausea rising in my stomach, and moved deeper into the temple.

There were winding corridors and many large, high ceilinged rooms, decorated with the spiral design of the Air Nomads and usually colored blue, green, or white. Always there was the wind, moaning down the corridors like so many mournful flutes. And always, there was at least one skeleton in sight, unmoved from where that person had fallen in death a hundred years ago. Sometimes the skeleton would have red and black armor, but all too often there was a flowing cloth robe.

I came across a Nomad skeleton that had a fairly intact robe. Setting my sai aside and pushing Momo away for the moment, I took the robe and pulled it on over my jeans and tee shirt. After this I had to pause and lean against the wall for support, panting with the effort of keeping my nausea down and almost puking on the spot. Momo regarded me from the ground, giving a worried chitter.

It was a full two minutes before the nausea passed. I took a steadying breath and straightened up. I looked myself over, estimating how long the robe might last before falling to pieces. It was a little short on me, and it was torn and scorched in places; one whole sleeve had been burned off. I hoped the robe would hold together long enough for me to get better clothing, it was at least a hundred years old already. After getting the robe, I slipped my two sai into the robe's belt and picked up Momo, more for the comfort of another living thing than for anything else, even warmth. Momo curled up in my arms, probably grateful for my warmth, and began purring like a cat. I moved on, looking for whatever else I could salvage from the wreckage of war.

I passed many more skeletons, and saw many places in the walls and ceiling where the structure had fallen through from age and battle. In one corridor there was a large alcove, in which I found almost two dozen child-sized skeletons, all jumbled together as they had tried to escape the trap they found themselves in. The alcove was almost entirely blackened by fire cast by the Fire Nation soldiers, engulfing the children who had not been strong enough or skilled enough to defend themselves.

At this point, I stopped feeling sick to my stomach and started feeling downright furious. I had no personal connection with any of the people who had been in this Temple or in this world, yet that was the first time that I felt what could be called righteous fury. It was all too easy to see those child skeletons as so many Aidans and Nadias, being struck down as they begged for their lives and cried for me to save them. The more I thought about what the Fire Nation had done and saw the actual proof before me, the more angry I got.

My fists clenched painfully, my entire body tensed with anger. Momo sensed my change in mood and leaped out of my arms to the ground, chattering. I paid him no mind; I gritted my teeth, nearly shaking with the effort of trying not to vent with a horrific yell like I really wanted to. I could practically feel the anger as it welled up from my stomach, to my chest, to my throat…

I couldn't hold it in any longer. I exploded, in more ways than one.

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHH!"

**A/N: First chapter is done! YAY! And before anyone asks, no, Percy didn't spontaneously combust. Or did he? And yes, I am considering writing other fanfictions of other universes with Percy as a main character, but those will be a long time in coming. Also, I have no idea when the ATLA Season 2 premiere actually aired, because I didn't watch any of the episodes on TV. I just picked early morning on the weekend because it suits the story. I don't know when Chapter 2 will be ready...maybe in a couple of days, maybe in a couple of months after I update all my other stories...I don't know, so you all will just have to be patient.**


	2. Chapter 2

**1/7/2014 A/N: Alright, so my family has recovered somewhat from Dad's passing on...But now our area is in the middle of major winter weather (eight inches of snow on the ground right now, minus 20 degree Fahrenheit temperatures, and rumors of a freezing rain to come) and we're fighting off a round of colds, so we're all still feeling pretty down. You would think that being laid up sick means plenty of free time for writing, but its really annoying when I have to stop every few minutes to blow my nose, take some medicine, or get another cup of tea/bowl of chicken noodle soup.**

**But finally, Chapter 2 is here! And like I always do, I have deleted the Author's Notes I posted before to keep the chapter count correct.**

Chapter 2

I threw my head back as a yell tore from my throat, a yell that would have terrified myself if I hadn't been so incredibly angry. Momo dashed away from me with a frightened shriek, but I hardly noticed. It took me a few moments to realize that there was a huge blast of flame above me. I stopped yelling and jumped back in reflex, thinking that part of the ceiling about to fall in on me. But no, the flame sputtered out, and although the ceiling was more scorched than before, it didn't fall.

I stood rooted to where I had landed, my anger giving way to incredulity and shock. Did that fire come from where I think it did? Experimentally, I focused the remaining traces of my anger and gave a great huff at nothing in particular. Sure enough, a burst of flame about the size of my hand laced my breath, fizzling out in a puff of smoke.

I stood stock still, not having the slightest idea how to react. Cartoon or not, I was still determined to make those Fire Nation bastards pay for what they did to the Air Nomads. But now I couldn't help feeling almost hypocritical about it, since I was apparently a Firebender myself. Besides that, how did I manage to Firebend at all with no prior training specific to Bending? How much more cliche' could one get?

Trying to figure this out made me remember that I would need some kind of story to explain my presence here, a Firebender at an abandoned Air Temple. The easiest way to do it would be to pretend that I had amnesia...I felt bad about lying, directly or otherwise, but people were bound to ask questions about my distinctly none-ATLA jeans and tee shirt no matter what I said.

After a few minutes of internal struggle, I finally decided that faking amnesia would be my best course of action, whether I liked it or not. It wasn't like I could outright tell people that I was from an alternate dimension. Either they wouldn't take me seriously, like I was a little kid playing games, or they would take me too seriously and start asking if they could visit my dimension. No way was I going to let chaos like that happen, never mind how much the twins would love to meet Aang in person. Besides, I couldn't take anyone to my dimension if the door I used wasn't even there anymore.

I tried not to think about what might happen to the twins if I never got back home at all, and nodded as I settled on my next course of action. Don't mention anything at all about alternate dimensions, just fake amnesia if someone starts asking too many questions. I also decided to wear the jeans and tee shirt only long enough to find more appropriate clothing; after that, I was ditching the Earth clothing completely. It wouldn't be any great loss to me, I had plenty of other jeans and shirts at home.

Taking a steadying breath, I braced myself for more cold and another wave of nausea; I was going to need more than clothes to survive in this world, and for the moment this mass grave of a Temple was the only place to get supplies. I began looking around for another fairly intact Nomad robe to put on as an extra layer against the cold, and for whatever else I could salvage from the destroyed temple.

Momo was further down the corridor, huddled on the ground and watching me, warily waiting for anymore scary flames. Between me and Momo, on one side of the corridor, lay three adult-sized skeletons, two Fire Nation and one Air Nomad. The sight of the Fire Nation armor made my anger rise again. I lashed out furiously at the nearest Fire Nation skeleton, kicking the bones where they laid on the ground. The helmet and a few of the bones went flying, hitting the wall and ground with a loud, echoing clatter. I ignored the sudden throbbing from where my bare foot had contacted the helmet.

Momo chattered loudly in protest and dashed over to me, climbing up to my shoulder and shielding himself behind my head. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself, and reached up to stroke Momo on the head again. He relaxed somewhat, shifting to a more comfortable position on my shoulder and rubbing his head against my hand, purring. This made me feel a little better, but not much. I deliberately turned away from the Fire Nation skeleton, and stalked down the corridor and deeper into the temple.

After that, I wandered around the temple for another half hour at least, shivering and rubbing my arms and stomping my feet in an effort to stay warm. I took the robes from whatever skeleton was my size and put them on for extra protection against the cold; eventually I was wearing half a dozen Air Nomad robes all layered on top of each other. I took a smaller robe and tore it into large strips, wrapping them around my feet and legs as best I could in place of shoes. When I had collected enough clothing to stay acceptably warm, I tried to Firebend again but it was harder now. I would give an angry huff at every Fire Nation skeleton I saw, but more often than not it would be just that, an angry huff. I managed it only one more time, but there was no flame, just a single fitful spark which might have been my imagination.

After wandering around and Firebending with dismal results, I finally found some small storage rooms on a lower level, tucked away underneath a great winding staircase. Some of the storage rooms held blankets and bolts of cloth and thankfully some clothing; a few rooms had things like travel supplies and materials to make the staff-gliders that every Air Nomad used. I pushed Momo off my shoulder while I rummaged through all of these small rooms under the stairs, and finally gathered an adequate pile of usable supplies.

I set aside my sai before changing out of my borrowed robes and Earth clothing, stripping down until I was in my boxers. Momo promptly dived into the pile of discarded clothes, burrowing down until only his green eyes peeked out. Shivering, I quickly slipped on a yellow Air Nomad robe, and another orange layered robe over the yellow one; both were rather musty but much better preserved than the other ones I had. I topped this off with a brown cloak that was only slightly moth eaten at the bottom hem. After the cloak, I started trying on Air Nomad footwear.

I was trying on some Air Nomad boots when Momo poked his head out of the pile of clothing, his large ears going erect and turning in all directions; he was listening for something.

"You hear something, buddy?" I asked. The next moment I heard it too: a deep flute-like sound somewhere on one of the levels above me. It was much like the wind but different somehow, resonating through the temple for a moment before slowly fading away. Momo chittered curiously and crawled out of the pile of robes, spreading his bat-like wings to fly up the stairs to the level above.

I stayed where I was, thinking. What object in the ATLA universe would make a sound like that? Then I remembered. Early in Season 1, Aang had gone to the inner sanctuary of the temple, a sacred room with a door that could only be opened by Airbending. It was the sound of the door being unlocked that Momo and I had heard.

I went back to trying on boots, trying to hurry and finish so I could catch up to Aang and his friends before they left the Temple. This pair was too small, so I tossed them aside and tried on another pair, which fit me better. Maybe not perfectly, it was hard to tell when my feet were still mostly numb from cold. When I was fully dressed, I picked up my sai and stuck them in the belt of my robe like before. After this I hurriedly began gathering up whatever travel supplies I could use. I hadn't found any useable satchel or backpack in storage; they were all so motheaten they would have been more time and trouble than they were worth to repair them. I improvised, grabbing the least motheaten blanket I could find and using it to carry whatever could be bundled up inside.

Tinder and flint, water canteen, a few candles, a small metal cooking pot, a ceramic bowl that was only slightly chipped on the rim. I would have to improvise something for a spoon later. When I had an acceptable bundle of supplies, knotting the corners of the blanket together as best as I could manage, I set it aside for a moment and grabbed two more blankets. One couldn't have too many blankets in this weather and altitude. I thought for a moment, and took off my belt and cloak. After a moment of fumbling, I wrapped the blankets under my arms and over each other like improvised Roman togas: two corners of one blanket tied on one shoulder and two corners of one blanket tied on the other shoulder. I used my belt to hold them in place, and put my cloak back on over them.

I was just putting my sai back in the belt when I heard voices on the level above me, distant but quickly growing closer.

"Woohoo! Catch us if you can, Sokka!" A young male voice crowed.

"No fair, Aang! No Airbending!" An older male voice protested.

"Aang, Sokka, wait for me!" A female voice shouted, further away.

My eyes widened in realization. It was Aang and his friends! They were coming here! My initial excitement was soon replaced with apprehension. I had to look as much as a normal ATLA person as I could, and I couldn't do that while my Earth clothes were still in the area and I was the only one to be questioned about them. I picked up the jeans and tee shirt and rolled them into an awkward bundle as I quickly glanced around, trying to find someplace to hide it. Aang and the others were sure to go through the storage rooms for whatever supplies they could use, so I couldn't hide the incriminating clothing in there. My next thought was to just burn the Earth clothing into ashes, but considering how out of control my Firebending was the first time, I wasn't sure if I could do that without setting fire to everything else in sight as well.

I lingered too long in indecision. Momo chattered excitedly as he flew back down towards where I was; he was closely followed by a twelve year old boy in Air Nomad clothing. The boy leaped over the railing of the stairs and landed on the ground below as lightly as the lemur had.

For the moment, I forgot about my Earth clothing in my surprise. I knew that this was Aang, but seeing him as a living person was very different from seeing him as a cartoon. Just like in the show, he wore brown boots, a pair of brown and yellow trousers, and a long sleeved yellow shirt with an attached orange shawl thingy around the shoulders. He carried an Air Nomad staff, which I knew could fold out into a personal hang-glider. His head was completely shaved, revealing the distinctive Air Nomad tattoo on his head and echoed on his hands, which was shaped like an arrow and colored a light blue that perfectly complemented his grey eyes.

Those cheerful eyes, very much alive and so much like Aidan's and Nadia's eyes, lit up with curiosity and excitement as Aang looked me over.

"Wow! You have gold hair!" Aang promptly exclaimed. I shrugged.

"It's been that way for as long as I can remember," I replied, which was true. I set down the bundle of Earth clothing; there was no use in trying to hide it now, it would be too obvious. Maybe if I didn't point it out the others would assume it was random rubbish from storage. By this time Aang's friends had come down the stairs and caught up with him. They were Sokka and Katara; brother and sister, with the same dark coloring and ice blue eyes, and dressed in their usual blue and white Water Tribe clothing lined with warm fur. They both regarded me curiously, Katara with just curiosity and Sokka with some suspicion, as was his way.

"Who are you and what are you doing here? And what did you do to your hair?" Sokka wasted no time in asking. I decided to ignore the last question, and shrugged in genuine cluelessness.

"I don't know why I'm here or how I got here," I started, which was truthful enough. "As for who I am…"

I furrowed my brow in thought, trying to think of a distinctly Asian name while still being truthful about it. I didn't want to lie any more than I absolutely had to, but 'Percy' wasn't going to work in such an Asian-themed world as this. My full name, Percival Connors, was even less likely to work. My first thought was to use a name based on my Zodiac sign, which was the lion. 'Leo' itself didn't sound Asian enough, and the only Asian word for 'lion' that I could think of was the Japanese rion, which sounded rather fake to me. I glanced downwards to avoid the growing suspicion in Sokka's gaze, and saw my two sai in my belt. At the same moment I remembered my tiger necklace.

"Saitora," I said promptly, combining the name of my weapons with the Japanese word for 'tiger' and hoping it didn't sound too stupid. Sokka and Katara looked somewhat surprised.

"That almost sounds like a Water Tribe name…" Katara commented. "But you're not from our village...are you from the Northern Water Tribe?" She asked, looking at me with rising curiosity.

I shifted uncomfortably, both to keep up appearances and because I knew this conversation was only going to get more uncomfortable.

"No, I'm not from any Water Tribe village…I couldn't be, considering."

Sokka looked like he was about to go full interrogation on me, but Aang spoke first.

"Some Air Nomads have brown eyes. Are you an Air Nomad?" Aang asked me eagerly.

"No, I'm not." I replied apologetically. Aang seemed disappointed, but not distressed.

_He must not have found Monk Gyatso's remains, yet…_ I thought silently.

"Hey, what's that?" Katara asked suddenly, pointing to the bundle of Earth clothing at my feet, which clearly showed some brick red cloth. I sighed, the game was up.

"Those are my old clothes," I replied clearly. Sokka's eyes widened.

"It's red! You're Fire Nation!" He shouted, accusing me and warning the others. He promptly whipped out a Water Tribe boomerang and club from their respective sheaths on his back, and threw the boomerang at me before charging in with the club. I dodged the boomerang, but I didn't quite dodge the club in time as he swung at me. It clipped me on the shoulder as I spun out of the way to get behind Sokka. My last second dodge messed up Sokka's rhythm and made him lose his balance, resulting in him tumbling flat on his face a short distance away.

I rubbed my sore shoulder for a moment, and had to duck again as Sokka's boomerang came whirling back. It clattered on the ground somewhere behind me. I made no move to draw my sai from my belt, instead crossing my arms and waiting for whatever else the others would do. Aang still stood where he was, uncertain of this sudden turn of events. Momo, startled by the sudden scuffle, dashed up to Aang's shoulder and perched there, watching cautiously. Katara rushed over to her brother, casting wary glances at me as she passed by. Sokka stood up again, rubbing his sore nose in an indignant manner, and prepared to charge again.

"Wait, we don't have to fight…" Aang pointed out from behind me, but Sokka didn't listen. He charged again, swinging his club, and I dodged again, keeping my arms crossed over my chest and away from my weapons. Katara brought some water out of her waterskin with her Waterbending and nervously prepared to use it.

I frowned, this was just going to be a waste of time. I dodged Sokka's swing one more time before speaking up.

"If you would study my old clothes over there, you would see that it's actually a red shirt and a pair of blue pants." I stated meaningfully.

Sokka paused in his attack, his club still raised above his head.

"So? What's your point?" He asked skeptically.

"Blue, kid. Blue." I repeated, shooting a waiting look at him. Sokka paused, blinking in confusion before glancing down at his own blue clothing, his club still in the air. Aang swiftly moved the short distance to my bundle of Earth clothing and picked it up, unrolling my jeans and tee shirt with curiosity. Momo gave a curious sniff at the shirt, and chittered inquiringly. Katara put her water back in her water skin, somewhat relieved but confused as well.

"Wow...I've never seen clothing like this before...where did you get it?" Aang asked as he examined my Earth clothes with interest. Katara came over to get a closer look; Sokka lowered his club into a defensive position and moved over to where Aang and Katara were, just as much to stay between me and them as to look at the weird clothes. He glanced over his shoulder at the clothing, while trying to stay on guard against any suspicious moves from me.

"Huh, those look like something from another world…" Sokka commented obliviously.

In an instant, I realized that I couldn't get a better chance to explain the truth without letting on that everything and everyone here but myself was essentially not real.

"Quiet!" I hissed, closing the distance to Sokka in a second and clapping one hand over his mouth.

Sokka, taken by surprise, gave a muffled protest and tried to club me in the head in self defense. I grabbed his wrist with my other hand to stop the falling blow. I gave the best impression of secrecy and urgency that I could, scanning the area like I was looking for any sign of someone who might have heard us. Aang and Katara stared at me, unsure of what was going on or how to react.

After a few moments of looking around for invisible enemies, I removed my hands from Sokka's mouth and wrist. Naturally, the first thing Sokka said was, "What was that for!?"

I kept glancing around for invisible enemies as I replied urgently.

"Don't say another word about...that," I finished pointedly. Sokka stared at me like I was going crazy.

"You're acting like there really such a thing as other worlds-" He started.

"Ssshhh!" I hushed urgently, making a move like I was about to cover Sokka's mouth again. Sokka would have spoken up again in annoyance, but I went on.

"Not one word! Do you _want_ the Fire Nation to hear about something like that?" I asked rhetorically, giving him a warning look. Sokka's eyes widened as he caught my meaning.

"No, but...Are you saying that it's actually _true?_" He asked, clearly not believing a single word of it.

Aang looked up from examining my old clothes.

"I've heard about the Spirit World...Are you from the Spirit World?" He asked me, eager again.

I shook my head. "No, this is different."

At this, Aang looked even more excited, Sokka was that much more skeptical, and Katara looked like she still wasn't sure how to react.

"So it's a different world entirely? What is it like?" Aang asked excitedly.

"Never mind another world or whatever, how long have you been hanging out in an abandoned temple?" Katara asked me, seeming to find her voice and regarding my salvaged clothing with growing concern.

"Never mind the temple!" Sokka barked like a drill sergeant. "If you're from another world, and you don't want the Fire Nation to know about it, then why are you even here at all?" Sokka asked me, a little more pragmatic.

I held up my hands to stop any further questions until I addressed the ones that had already been asked.

"Okay, all of your questions, in order. Yes; it's similar to this one in some ways and completely different in others; about half an hour, and...plausible deniability."

"What!?" Sokka blurted out, not fully understanding and indignant that I was giving everyone besides him a straight answer. I sighed, and addressed all three of them.

"You should all know right now that there are some things that I'm not going to talk about. Sometimes I just don't know for sure, and sometimes it might be something that will only cause trouble if it gets out, especially if the Fire Nation hears about it. If I don't tell you anything, then if an enemy starts asking you about 'that', you can truthfully say that you don't know."

"But seriously, if you don't want the Fire Nation to know about that stuff, why did you come here at all? And if you've only been here for half an hour, how do you even know about the Fire Nation to begin with?" Sokka demanded rather than asked.

I promptly responded with two words. "Plausible deniability."

Sokka could only sputter indignantly at this. Aang looked like he was about to ask me something else, but thought better of it. Katara jumped in to ward off any other incriminating questions.

"Enough about that! Are you hungry? When was the last time you've eaten?" She asked me, concerned.

Before I could answer, my stomach gave a loud grumble at the mention of eating. Little wonder, since I hadn't eaten breakfast yet. Katara looked a little amused.

"Well, I guess that answers that," She commented. I gave a sheepish laugh.

"I was too focused on finding warmer clothing to think about food…" I explained, truthfully enough. At this, Sokka gave Aang an annoyed look.

"Well, maybe if someone hadn't used my blubbered seal jerky to start the fire last night, we would have some food to give you." He pointed out. Aang looked somewhat exasperated.

"Like I said before, I didn't know that it was food!" He protested.

Katara looked at Sokka, surprised.

"You, Sokka? Willing to share meat? Are you sure you're feeling alright?" She asked, only half jokingly.

"I can be generous sometimes, Katara." Sokka shot his sister a lofty look.

Katara snickered.

"Only because it's a chance for you to get something to eat, too," she pointed out. Sokka huffed in annoyance, and Aang laughed. I grinned.

"That's how all teen boys are, willing to eat at any time of day or night. I know I was at that age."

"How old are you?" Aang asked, genuinely curious.

"I'm twenty five years old," I replied.

"Cool," Aang said with a grin. Sokka was about to say something, but Katara cut him off.

"Enough talking, let's gather whatever supplies we can use and get down to a lower altitude before making camp for the night."

At Katara's words, Aang and Sokka stopped asking questions and began going through the storage rooms; Aang showed off to Sokka whatever Air Nomad artifacts he found, and Sokka looked bored with anything that wasn't directly related to camping and survival. I would have helped the boys gather supplies, but Katara promptly went into 'mother hen' mode and started asking if I was warm enough, had I been injured anywhere, did I feel sick at all, and a dozen other questions about my well-being.

During all this, I was busy trying to get Katara to stop fussing over me and chuckling at the boys' antics. Underneath the jovial exterior I was putting on I was actually quite worried. This ATLA business was looking to be a long-term arrangement at best, and I hoped that the twins would be safe for however long I was going to be away from home...

**A/N: I'll try to update my other stories as soon as possible, and that's all I have to say here...**


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